CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE: The Mischievous Mr. Lu

{ "Just go after him." } * Click for BGM!

With the Busan morning sunshine gleaming through the white curtains, Hyejung started to gradually stir out of her sleep. She was sprawled on her back in her homey old bed, stretching her arms up in a poor attempt to the touch the ceiling. After curling her fingers in and out to regain feeling, Hyejung opened her eyes.

Rubbing the nape of her neck, she slowly rose into a lazy sitting position and looked around the room. It felt nice to be home.

Once she glanced over at her side table's alarm clock, Hyejung tossed the bed sheets off of her and let her feet meet with the hardwood flooring. She sauntered over to her window and yanked the curtains apart, letting the bright sunlight peek into the hazy room. Trailing her fingers through her disheveled hair, she sleepily her heels and wobbled out of her room. Even when she was back at her old home, the laziness she possessed in the mornings never wavered.

Hyejung meandered down the hallway, seemingly lifeless. Passing through the living room and keeping her droopy eyes focused ahead towards the kitchen, she suddenly stopped. She turned half of her body, staring at the two boys who slept on the floor. 

The large, baby blue blanket Hyejung provided for them last night was disregarded and ended up being stuck underneath the couch, a good feet away from any of the boys' reach. Luhan had thrown his left leg over Kai's waist, his forehead meeting the taller's shoulder. On the other hand, Kai had his arm draped over Luhan's waist, and his chin rested on top of the blonde's head with his lips puckered like usual when he slept.

In other words, Kai and Luhan were snuggling up together. Yes, snuggling. 

Arching a brow, Hyejung blinked at the absentmindedly intimate sight. "Wake up, you gaytards," she sighed, walking into the kitchen indifferently.

Luhan was the first to open his eyes. His brows furrowed, wondering what kind of warm, cozy position he could possibly be in. Kai shifted and when Luhan clearly felt it, he knew what the situation was with hitched breath and big eyes. The deer-eyed lad lifted his chin, and instantly locked eyes with dark brown ones.

"U-Ugh!" the two lads gaped and shoved each other's chest at the same time, the sudden force making the breath escape out of their lungs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Kai spluttered, eyeing the latter accusingly. 

"Me? Hey, you should ask yourself that- you're the one had an arm wrapped around me!" Luhan quickly defended, waving his hand blatantly.

"W-Well you had a leg wrapped around me!"

Hyejung huffed her messy fringe out of her eyes, closing the fridge after getting the milk. "Yah, shut up! It's too early in the freaking morning for this crap, you freaking-! Aish," she bellowed, whirling around to place the jug on the table. "And when I come back into the living room the floor better be clean. Sorry, but I'm not wasting my time cleaning up your shiz, bro."

She knitted her eyebrows, leaving one hand down on the table when she paused for moment. "Hm. If the two were one of those weird OTPs, what would they be called? Lu...LuKai?" she shook her head and continued to mumble aimlessly, ripping a piece of her large fibre muffin off with her teeth. 

Being a safe distance away from each other after the abrupt wake up, Kai and Luhan glanced at each other and sighed exasperatedly. Rising into a kneeling position, the two boys started gathering up the blankets and pillows. The two of them would constantly pull and tug whenever they reached out for the same item, one of them recklessly ending up with it. 

Kai rolled his eyes, keeping himself occupied with folding the baby blue blanket. "Hey, what you said last night," he started, not looking up at Luhan when he spoke. "Is it really true?"

Luhan rubbed his eyes, snatching the last pillow off the ground. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"That," Kai started, the thoughts and following words seeming bitter on his tongue. "That you like Hyejung. Well, you think I guess," he looked up at the blonde boy, seriously. "Is it true?"

"Well," Luhan contemplated for a moment. He glanced towards the kitchen, spotting Hyejung fiddling with the end of her hairs that had been accidently dipped in her milk. 

"Well..? Well, what?" Kai prompted, getting slightly impatient. His brows knitted together protrudely as he stood up along with Luhan. "Stop being an inconspicuous fool and tell me."

Luhan suppressed a mere chuckle. "Well...I guess it's true since I did say that and all. At the end, it matters what you think up here," he pointed to the side of his head, causing the taller to scowl. What did Luhan possibly mean by that? 

Before Kai can rebuke, Luhan walked into the hall with the sleeping supplies hand. Kai followed right after him, thinking that there something more to the latter's words.

"Okay, there's Lukai. Um, KaiLu? No, HanKai? Man, I don't even- aish, why am I even thinking about this?" Hyejung blabbered as she ruffled her hair, standing up from her seat at the kitchen table. Packing her second over-sized muffin into , she trudged over into the hallway.

After taking a hearty bite of her muffin, Hyejung leaned against the door frame while watching the boys. She was about to speak up, but her words were suddenly stuck in at the crestfallen sight of Kai. Twisting her lips subconsciously, she remained silent, apprehending how she was really aware of Kai's well-being and how big the concern was when it washed over her. He looked troubled, his forehead creasing in a distressing manner. 

Hyejung cleared in an attempt to break the ice. "Hey, guys," she started in her usual tone of voice, but there was sense of discomfort hidden in it. The boys looked up at her, curious. "Um, Aunt Jae's visiting hours don't start for a while, so how about we go exploring? Around, er, Busan I mean. I know this cool place we can go to."

"Sure. I'll go get ready first," Luhan decided, shutting the closet door. He pointedly nodded to Hyejung, almost like he was telling her that everything was going to be all right. Raising a brow, she didn't buy it; not right now, anyway. 

As the deer-eyed boy spun on his heels and ventured down the halls, Kai immediately strode past Hyejung, brushing shoulders. She stumbled a bit at the unexpected intrusion, whipping her attention back at the lad incredulously. The boy almost made her choke on her fibre muffin, for god's sake! "Yah, what the heck?"

"I'm hungry," Kai mumbled, slightly pouting his full, plump lips. 

"As expected," Hyejung snorted, hauling herself on island counter top, wiggling a bit till she got comfortable. She finished the last couple of bites of her muffin, placing the wrapper beside her. "There's stuff in the fridge and there are fruits in the basket over there too. Help yourself." She gestured her hand around the kitchen, watching as Kai grabbed an apple from the basket and an entire strawberry yogurt tub from the fridge.

Hyejung's eyes widened as she watched him slide open a drawer and grab a large spoon, popping it into his yogurt. "Are you freaking crazy? Look, I know you're a pretty big boy and all, but you can't just-" 

"You sounded erted there," Kai deadpanned, digging into the pink yogurt mindlessly with the tomboy boring ardent holes into his face. He looked up, feigning innocence. "What? I'm hungry."

"I can see that," Hyejung retorted straightly, swinging her legs like a child. "But what are else are you?"

Kai his spoon clean before plopping back inside the tub, noticing the worriment on her features. "What do you mean?" 

She sighed tiredly. "Do you really need me to show you?" 

"Well, my brain doesn't function very well in the mornings, so I'd appreciate it if you showed me," Kai suggested, giving the slightest of smiles before it disappeared with the spoon going into his mouth.

"Fine then," Hyejung brushed her bangs out of her eyes, lazily waving her hand. "Come here."

Kai didn't hesitate to grant the wish, standing right in front of her after just three slow steps.

"Okay, so," Hyejung started, her brows furrowing. "What's with that?" 

Kai blinked and placed his yogurt on the counter. "What's with what?" he asked, rubbing his apple with his wrist till it shone under the feeble lighting.

Hyejung scoffed quietly, amused. "I mean this," she reached up, gently tracing running her index finger down Kai's creased forehead. "This isn't really normal for you," she mumbled, finding herself falling into a little daze with something warm and soft building inside of her.

When her eyes drifted downwards and her finger still lingering at its place, she was taken aback when she found Kai already intently staring at her. He tilted his head down, causing Hyejung to pull her hand away in fright. He laughed lightly at her abrupt shyness, making her cheeks heat scarlet.

"Is my forehead entertaining you?"

"Very funny." With knitted eyebrows, she gazed at Kai. Ever since the beginning of this trip, she noticed that he was getting too worked up about something. What was going on?

Hyejung spoke in a quiet, serious voice, "Kai, when I ask you this, I want you to tell me truthfully okay?"

"Huh?" Kai turned his head from the window. "Oh, uh, sure. Whatever you say Hyejung."

She  bit her lip, resting her folded arms on the table. "Kai, you - you've been acting strange lately. Not in a weird way, but just more, um, differently. What's going on?"

Kai flicked on the sink that sat beside Hyejung, letting the water shower his red apple. "What do you mean?" he turned off the tap, the moistness of the apple wetting his tan finger tips. 

"What I mean is, you've just been acting, well," Hyejung stirred in her spot, attempting on producing the right words to speak. "Different. You seem bothered. And I just really want to know...why?"

Kai leaned back in his seat. He knew this was coming with this attitude of his being so obvious by now. "I'm doing it for the right reasons."

"And what reason might that be?"

Kai his lips, going through a moment of inward debate. With a certain adrenaline pumping through his veins, he knew he could say it. He knew he could say how he didn't like Luhan being around her. He knew he could say how he wanted to keep her all to himself so selfishly, but in the utmost care and affection. He knew he could say how much he grown to love her.

But he didn't, because something was holding him back. Perhaps it was because of his throat constricting, or maybe it just didn't feel right to say anything at that moment.

He talked to her countless times before, so why was it so difficult to do it this time? He blamed it on his feelings, most likely messing with his brain.

Inside, it literally felt like a voice was mocking him with, "You're a coward! What are you waiting for?"

Kai fell for it. He really did.  

Hyejung sighed warily when the lad didn't reply. "Your vibe hasn't been the same to me lately, and I just want to know. Please don't view me as a cheeseball or something when I say that I care about you. I really care about you," she inhaled and exhaled quietly, again. Her heart was stirring. "Kai, you...you're my friend. And all I want to do is just want make sure that everything's okay with you."

Kai silently pursed his lips. Is it? Is everything okay? 

No. It wasn't.

It felt blissfully nice to know that Hyejung cared about him, but as a friend? That's not what he wanted. Not anymore. 

"It's nothing, Hyejung," Kai finally spoke up. "I'm just tired, I guess. The floor is not really the best place to sleep," he explained convincingly, rubbing his forehead to relax it.

Hyejung bit the inside of her cheek, folding her arms. "Are you sure about that?" 

She yelped when Kai thonked his apple against her own forehead. "Ow!"

"I'm sure," Kai said in confirmation, cheekily, but something was hidden within his chocolate orbs. 

"Well...if you say so. I'll still be wondering about it, though." Hyejung bit down on her lip, becoming more self-conscious than necessary. His gaze made her feel small all of a sudden, and she grasped her clammy hands onto the edge of the counter for relief.

"Don't worry about it." Kai curved one side of his lips up in assurance, delicately patting the side of her arm. Just before he was about to take his first chomp into his apple, Hyejung swiftly stole it from his grasp and bit into it instead. "Hey! I was gonna eat that!"

"Too bad," Hyejung teased, chewing carelessly without bothering to close . She swallowed, patting her stomach in sat